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Volume 110, Issue 55
Leaders
Continue
Lobbying
Efforts
Students focus on
minimizing cuts
By Elyse Ashburn
and John Frank
Senior Writers
Looking to improve on sporadic
attempts to lobby the N.C. General
Assembly this summer, UNC-system
student leaders say their work is far
from over.
“We’re not done yet,” said Jonathan
Ducote, UNC-system Association of
Student Governments president.
Ducote and UNC-Chapel Hill
Student Body President Jen Daum said
they will organize a trip to Raleigh in
coming weeks for students to visit their
representatives.
A committee of
31 House mem
bers and 25 sena
tors began meet
ing this week to
develop a com
promise budget.
Student leaders
see this as a key
opportunity to
focus and increase
their influence.
“We’ll try to
have one real
push before this
comes out of com-
i^i
iclSi
UNC-CH Student
Body President
Jen Daum
is optimistic that the
cuts will be minimal.
mittee,” Ducote said.
With members of the Carolina
Lobbying Corps, a student-run lobby
ing group, back on campus, Daum said
they will have a larger student presence
in Raleigh, the lack of which hampered
this summer’s lobbying efforts.
A limited number of CLC members
visited representatives of the N.C.
House while they were crafting their
budget in July, but for the most part stu
dent leaders went to Raleigh inffe-
See LOBBYING, Page 11A
Grad Student
Remissions
In Jeopardy
By John Frank
Assistant University Editor
More than 190 out-of-state graduate
students who were promised in-state
tuition rates could possibly not get them
under the N.C. House budget approved
last week.
The S3O million allocated sys
temwide for reducing tuition for out-of
state graduate teaching assistants and
resident assistants would be cut by $5
million if the plan survives the N.C.
General Assembly’s efforts to finalize a
state budget. The 2001-02 state budget
allocated $25 million to the UNC sys
tem for tuition remissions.
Linda Dykstra, UNC-Chapel Hill
dean of the graduate school, said $2 mil
lion of the proposed $5 million cut is ear
marked for UNC-CH graduate students.
Used often to recruit top graduate stu
dents, remissions offer out-of-state grad
uate students tuition at inexpensive in
state rates if they serve as TAs and RAs.
Branson Page, Graduate and
Professional Student Federation presi
dent, said he is disappointed by the pro
posal, which would divert the $5 million
See TUITION, Page 11A
Time is like money. The less we have of it to spare, the further we make it go.
Josh Billings
Quran Controversy
See DTH's full coverage of UNC's summer
reading program and its effects on campus.
See Page 3
BUDGET 2002-03
The Waiting Game
The University's budget remains in the balance
as officials anxiously anticipate a state budget and the
General Assembly's answers to the $2 billion budget deficit.
By Daniel Thigpen / University Editor
It never really occurred to Turquoise Edwards that UNC is short on money.
While she knew the state was battling its own fiscal shortfall, the freshman from Rocky Mount
didn't realize the damage already being dealt to the University.
"1 knew there was a problem, but I didn't know the University itself was making cuts,” Edwards said.
She might just now be familiarizing herself with the state's budget deficit, but the issue
has had campus leaders worried all summer about how students like Edwards will be affected
when they begin classes today.
Classrooms might be a little more crowded, and lines at Davis Library might be a little longer just
some of the more visible effects of what officials have been dreading for months. And it's not over.
' " "■ I SJMM ""
mm
I
AT STAKE
Some possible effects of the 2002-
OS budget on the University include:
• Fewer course sections
• Increased class size
• Elimination of non-tenure
track faculty positions
• Elimination of vacant positions
• Mid-year staff layoffs
• Cuts in funding for graduate tuition
remissions
• Reduction in overhead receipts
• No salary increases for staff this year
• Reduction in services such as house
keeping
• Fewer library materials mm
* V-;U>
—r Aug. 14,2002 Currently"" \
n 7 ;V 002 The full House Legislative leaders
July 23,2002 The N.C. House apprQVesa fromboth
SldMimS? Th ‘ Education official, hod ,„ ~,ning to night lot ta = doc ccs.cn
tIS teS Assembly from across the 2 .4 percent cut to the UNC- . days to consider more ca||s{ora3 workoula
F,sleS b!daet SlMor convenes its system, a total of $42 million. ”1“ than 80 amendmen sto tacross . compromise
Easley s budget calls for shortsessioni UNC-system The budget also provides the = ubcom!T " ttees the House budget plans. he . boardcut between the two
a 5 percent across-the- where most of officials, meet with fu|| 566 9 mj||jon 4, UNC . begin meeting rhe committee approves j b U( J C di ff erent budget
board cut to the UNC the discussion the N.C. Senate to system officials requested for to J hashout the budget Aug. 9, at s VS tem —a proposals,
system —a total of S9O has been ask legislators to enrollment qrowth The mdividual which point it heads to ( te| of $52
million. The budget plan dominated by , he keep cuts to budget bill is sent to the N.C. f the the full House for mjlljon s
issentto tteftC. state's budget education at a House for consideration. bud9et consideration.
General Assembly for cr j s j s minimum. - ~~—
~
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
WB* Jftrrfi
In Gear
The Tar Heels focus on
the present, not the past.
See Section B
As lawmakers in Raleigh work to mend the $2 billion hole
in the state’s budget -a process that has now
pp^^^Z2*2jpß&>
‘ . jtJ & "*•
inary cuts since then.
But with students now in class -and
■ no state budget in sight - University lead
ers are stuck waiting for action before any
additional cuts can be made.
Campus officials believe students will begin to
see subde effects of the state’s budget crisis imme
diately -and until legislators craft a spending plan,
the final blow to UNC this year remains up in the air.
f >i *' '
.
A Sound Game Plan
As students were wrapping up their final exams and
heading home last semester, the University was hard at work.
. "A-rSjdpp
Ipir Three months after Easley’s budget
P announcement - which clearly articulated that
iff universities would bear a portion of the state’s
woes - both the state Senate and House have passed
spending plans that outline different cuts to UNC.
The Senate plan calls for a 2.4 percent permanent
cut to UNC, the House a 3 percent cut. Chancellor
James Moeser has said UNC naturally prefers the
Senate version but more so because the House plan
proposes additional reductions not in the form of
permanent cuts.
But in May, UNC’s deans and department
chairmen were instructed to anticipate 5
percent reductions. Since then, indi
vidual campus sectors have been
4 planning for the worst.
Departments across campus already have made
cuts where they can, eliminating course sections,
lecturers and whatever items can be trimmed.
Until the House and the Senate devise a com
promise spending plan for this fiscal year, the
\ provost’s office - where all final cuts on cam
\ pus will eventually be reported - won’t
know the exact impact on UNC.
For the College of Arts and Sciences,
which constitutes about 70 percent of
f \ Hk UNC’s undergraduate education, figur
BjL ing out where to shave die budget has
' • r-
mmmkaSm
spilled over almost two months into
the new fiscal year - the University
is in an awkward situation.
Officials began plan
ning for the worst in May,
when Gov. Mike Easley
proposed a 5 percent cut to
the state’s universities. They
have been discussing prelim-
INSIDE
Towns Hope
Sales Tax Hike
Will Help Fund
Depleted Coffers
Some Overhead
Receipt Funds
Under Discussion
In Committee
See Page 11A
been a daunting task. “It’s
hard to come up with $4.5
million, especially when
See UNC, Page 11A
Weather
Today: T-storms; H 93, L 68
Wednesday: Partly Cloudy; H 90, L 65
Thursday: Partly Cloudy; H 90, L 63
"3
DTH/KIMBERLY CRAVEN
Rep. Mickey Michaux, D~Durham,
speaks to the N.C. House.
Conferees
Meet to
Produce
Budget
Senate budget more
friendly to UNC-CH
By Elyse Ashburn
State & National Editor
Several glaring differences - includ
ing differing levels of university appro
priations - are contained in the N.C.
House and Senate versions of the bud
get for the 2002-03 fiscal year
The N.C. General Assembly
Appropriations Conference Committee,
which has been charged with reaching a
compromise on the two budget plans,
held its first meeting Monday.
Lawmakers are confident they will
reach a consensus within the next few
weeks.
The Senate passed its version of the
budget for the 2002-03 fiscal year June
19. The House
version cleared
the floor Aug. 13.
The Senate
has proposed a
2.4 percent cut in
UN C-system
funding -a total
of about $42 mil
lion. The House
has proposed cuts
of 3 percent,
trimming the
U N C-system
budget by a little
more than $52
million.
The House plan funds system
salaries at 98 percent their normal rate,
while the Senate intends to fully fund
salaries.
“That’s one of the big differences,”
said House Appropriations Committee
Co-chairman David Redwine, D-
Brunswick. “If we don’t do that we’ll
have to come up with an additional $36
million.”
But Senate Appropriations
Committee Co-chairman Howard Lee,
D-Orange, said the Senate will fight the
reduced salary funding rate.
The House budget also proposes to
take $lO million in overhead receipts
from research institutions - about $7
million of which would come from
UNC-Chapel Hill -and redistribute
the money to seven focus growth insti
tutions.
The Senate budget has no such pro
vision, and senators say they will fight
to allow research schools to retain their
overhead receipts.
“We want to be able to protect over
head receipts,” Lee said.
Representatives also want to elimi
nate the sl.l million subsidy to operate
the Smith Center at UNC-CH.
Senators have no such intentions.
“The House budget is a very anti-
Chapel Hill budget,” said UNC-CH
Chancellor James Moeser.
“We have strong support in the
See BUDGET, Page 11A
vww.dailytarheel.com
“We have
strong support
in the Senate
and will try
to push the
budget to the
Senate side. ”
James Moeser
UNC-CH Chancellor